LePage has signaled a willingness to weaken health-insurance regulations, saying Maine "cannot afford health care with the Cadillac mandates that have come down from Augusta." The drug companies are likely betting that process will help fatten their bottom lines.

(After MPBN interviewed me on this topic, they asked AstraZeneca spokesperson Tony Jewell about the donations. He claimed, incorrectly, that the company gave only to the national RGA, and that it then used it "in campaigns across the country as they see fit." While that's how the RGA and its Democratic counterpart usually work, the group set up a dedicated PAC in Maine this year, which all the firms in this article donated to directly.)

The Prison Firm

Chipped in $25,000

The CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA, the nation's largest builder and operator of private prisons, has wanted to build a federal prison in Milo for years, but has been flummoxed by Democrats refusal to meet one of their key demands: changing Maine law to allow Maine prisoners — not just federal ones — to be incarcerated at the facility. Both the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News editorialized against such a change, pointing out that when states turn their prisoners over to for-profit corporate jailers, they lose control over the conditions they experience. Thirteen states from Texas to Massachusetts have recently ended their contracts with private prison companies.

Like PhRMA, Tennessee-based CCA has for years retained the services of corporate lobbyist Jim Mitchell, paying him $23,000 in 2009 to influence the state's biannual corrections budget. With this year's GOP takeover, CCA and Mitchell are taking no chances. Mitchell has just formed a new lobbying partnership with outgoing House Republican leader Josh Tardy (who was term-limited), who registered himself earlier this month as CCA's principal lobbyist.

LePage is already on board. Even before being sworn in, he promised to help bring CCA to Milo, though his spokesman has said it had nothing to do with CCA's donation (see "LePage Interested in Corporate Prisons," by Lance Tapley, December 17, 2010).

For-profit Social-Services Companies and Consultants

Chipped in $143,000

Several donors to the PAC are in the business of taking over the operation of state services, and presumably hope the LePage administration will consider letting them do so here.

Walking on broken glass There must be some kind of law that kicks in whenever a prominent politician leaves office, requiring every columnist and pundit to blather on at length about the triumphs and tragedies of that esteemed figure's checkered career.

Museum dreams This week, we're joining a guided tour of the Maine Museum of Political Paleontology. A docent is explaining to a group of schoolchildren what's happening in a scene depicting cave people trying to register to vote.

Nobody dies Some things in life are essential — beer, the MLB Network, caller ID — and some things aren't — tofu, Jay Leno, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Instead of cuts: guts Let’s assume, reader, that you’re concerned about economic and social justice. For those in real need — people who are poor, sick, old, mentally ill, addicted, disabled — you want decent care. You’re concerned, too, about proper funding of schools, community colleges, and university campuses.

THE MAKING OF PAUL LEPAGE, PART 2 | January 18, 2012 Governor Paul LePage has made plenty of waves in his first year in office, and has many wondering where his sometimes provocative political attitudes come from. In this two part series we ask: who is Paul LePage?

THE MAKING OF PAUL LEPAGE, PART 1 | January 18, 2012 Governor Paul LePage generated more controversy and negative press in his first year in office than most Maine politicians do in their entire careers.